Teleri makes a spoon
The Goldsmiths' Company kindly invited Crafts magazine to join in a workshop on how to make a silver spoon. Always eager to learn a new skill, and put my appalling hand-eye co-ordination to the test, I attended - and this is how it went...
Here’s the team for the day – a mixture of writers, academics and ‘Company’ people – all silver enthusiasts, but (crucially) total beginners.
We’re listening intently to Howard Fenn who along with Steve Wager are our wonderful and patient teachers today.
‘The Evolution of a Spoon’ – well I can see step 1 to step 3 but there seems to be a rather unrealistic leap between step 3 and step 4.
My workbench for the morning.
And my trusty hammer.
‘Listen carefully, I will say this only once’, master metalworker Steve Wager talks, we listen.
After hitting and banging (and a little bit of cheating) here is my spoon taking shape.
Here is the cheating that I confessed to. It’s my spoon but not necessarily my hands (they belong to Howard Fenn).
After decades of work between them, Fenn and Wager have the most wonderful collection of tools – worn, customised and remade over the years.
This is me concentrating on my filing. I was the only learner who had to visit the first aid box a couple of times, pesky filing, must concentrate more.
The final results in a row (not including the top one). And we’re all rather proud.
This is a miniature train set that Steve Wager made, it’s pretty incredible… I’ve got a rather long way to go, just need a bigger box of plasters.
